Collapsible booth



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

IlMllllliiinillllll eej,

2 Sheets-:Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

E. O. OOOK.

' COLLAPSIBLB BOOTH.

No. 482,078. Pattented Sept. 6, 1892.

UNITED SrA-'Ins ATE-NT FFIC.

IIGBERT .OL COOK, on OAK PARK, ILLINOIS.

COLLAPSIBLEBOOTH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 482,078, dated September 6, 1892.

Application tiled October 30, 1891. Serial No. 410.355. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that LEGBERT C. COOK, a citizen of the United States, residing at Oak Park, Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Collapsible Booths, of which the following is a specification.

My invention has for its object to provide a polling-booth which can be readily erected and taken down, which shall be cheap to construct, and which shall furnish the necessary secrecy to voters, while providing them with a shelf or table on which to prepare and fold their ballots.'

The invention may also be applied to the construction of tents or other collapsible structures. For voting-booths I prefer 'to make the walls of canvas, as vthis material is light, readily transported, and can be folded into' small compass when not in use; but the sides may be of other material and the shape of the structure may be varied at will. In the preferred construction I employ an iron framework having upright posts at the corners thereof, of angle-iron, and these postsvl are held in position by means of diagonal braces hinged at their ends to the post-s, three sides of the frame being provided with two braces crossing each other diagonally, and said braces being provided with hinged joints between their ends, so that by breaking said joints the braces maybe swung on their hinged connections with the posts, and thus the posts brought together. The front of the booth is preferably open and unprovided with braces of any sort, except at the top, where I employ a straight bar or brace extending between the two front posts, with hinged braces extending diagonally from near its center to either side and detachably connected with the front corner posts. I also provide rods or bars, which are hinged to the braces and which are adapted to be swung down and their free ends secured to the corner-posts in position to support a shelf. The front wall will be secured, preferably, at its top and one edge, the remaining margin being free, so that the voter may throw it back to enter and leave the booth and so that it will dropdown when he has entered to conceal him from View of persons outside. p

In the accompanying drawings, Figurel is a perspective view showing my invention in the preferred form and showing the braces in dotted lines. Fig. 2 is a perspective View of a framework partially collapsed; and Figs. 3

to 5, inclusive, are detail views of some of the structural features.

In the drawings, A represents the front wall, B B the sidewalls, and O the rear wall. These in the preferred form are made of canvas or other flexible material.

Instead of making the walls B B C in separate sections I prefer to make them of a single piece of canvas, which will be hooked tothe front corner-posts D D and will be distended by the rear corner-posts E E. These posts are light angle-bars in the forni shown; but they may be light strips of wood. The angle form, though, is ,essential to one feature of my invention,w l1ich will be explained later on, and hence I'prefer in allcases to use them. These posts are provided at top and bottom with hooks'or lugs a., and the canvas walls are provided with holes or eyelets h to engage the hooks. The front wall A is preferably attached at its upper corners to the top of the posts D D. It may be of a length c qual to the height of the booth, but the requisite secrecy is maintained by making 1t of less length, as shown in Fig. l of the drawings. The front posts are held separated and are braced by means of a horizontal plate or bar F, hinged at f to the top of one of the posts D and at the other end tting into a socket F in the other of said posts. At or about its middle are hinged two diagonal braces G G', whose free ends are adapted to be detachably connected to the post D by being provided with hooks g, which enter sockets g in said angle-bars. The posts D E are held separated from each other by diagonal braces H, which are preferably light thin metal bars hinged at their ends to said posts, respectively, and also provided with a hinged joint h intermediate their ends, so as to permit the collapse or folding, as shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings. The posts E E are also held separated by braces H.

I represents table-supports, in the form of light metal bars, which are hinged at their front ends to the braces I-I and are adapted at their rear ends to engage the rear cornerposts to maintain them in a horizontal or substantially horizontal position.

IOO

J represents a table or shelf, which may be placed upon said supports for the use of the voter in preparing his ballot. This shelf is preferably provided on its under side near its ends with grooves j, which lit over the supports I, and thereby assist to. brace the structure. The top will usually be left open.,

The manner of setting up and taking down the structure will be apparent from the foregoing description and from an inspection of the drawings. When the frame is collapsed, the braces will fold into the angles of the corner-posts, and the structure may thus be reduced to compact form. The canvas may be readily detached and rolled up.

Without limiting my invention to the precise details of construction or to the particular use described, I claiml. A booth or similar structure having upright walls, the frame whereof is composed of vertical corner-posts connected by diagonal braces hinged at their ends to the posts and havlng joints between said ends, whereby the members of the braces may be folded and the frame may be collapsed, substantially as described. l

2. A booth or similar structure the frame whereof is composed of vertical posts consistmg of an gie-bars, and diagonal braces hinged attheir ends, respectively, to the said posts, said braces crossing each other on the same side and provided between their ends with l joints to adapt them to be folded into the angles of the corner-posts, whereby the frame may be collapsed, substantially as described.

3. A booth the frame whereof is composed of metal corner-posts connected by hinged braces provided with joints between their i ends, said corner-posts having hooks or lugs at their respective ends, and walls composed of canvas or other flexible material adapted to be engaged by said hooks or lugs whereby to securethe canvas or covering to the frame, the entire structure being thus adapted to collapse for storage or shipment without separation of its parts, substantially as described.

4. A booth the frame whereof is composed of vertical corner-posts connected by hinged braces provided with joints between their ends, and a bar having one end thereof hinged to the top of one of the corner-posts and the other end socketed into the other of said corner-posts, and diagonal braces hinged to said horizontal brace and having their ends adapted to engage the front corner-posts, substantially as described.

5. A booth the frame whereof comprises, in combination, vertical corner-posts con- :nected by hinged braces and short bars or arms hinged to said braces and adapted to engage the rear corn er-posts to support a table or shelf, substantially as described.

`6. A booth the frame whereof comprises, in combination, vertical corner-posts connected by hinged braces and short arms or bars hinged at one end to one part of the frame and their free ends adapted to engage another part of the frame whereby to support a shelf, said shelf having grooves in its lower surface adapted to engage said arms or bars whereby to brace the structure, substantially as described.

`EGBERT C. COOK.

Witnesses:

C. C. LINTHICUM, N. M. BOND. 

